Frightened
by Pen and Paper71
Summary: Fear was not a new feeling for Caeda, but this time, it was like nothing that she'd ever felt previously. Written for FE Contest on Livejournal. No specific spoilers, but the fic is set during FE3 Book 2, so non-specific spoilers might be present


A/N- Submitted for the fe_contest theme "terror." This fic takes place during Book 2, but ignores FE12 for the purposes of this fic. I hope that you enjoy it!

Caeda had never experienced terror like this before in her life. Tears ran down her face and her throat tightened so much that she could barely utter a sound, as she grappled to make sense of what her eyes were telling her. At his rider's urging, her pegasus suddenly released a nervous whinny and took off at full speed towards the the castle, which was currently under their own army's control, although she only vaguely registered this fact in her dazed state. Her fear was not for herself, but for him. Marth, her lover and her friend, lay on the ground unmoving, struck down by an enemy reinforcement that no one had seen coming until it was too late to act.

She managed to find her voice as she neared the castle, crying out his name as she touched down nearby. Caeda jumped off of the pegasus' back and ran as fast as her legs would carry her until she was able to take his hand in her own, the tears falling even harder now.

"Marth," she whispered brokenly, "Oh, Marth, please wake up. Please."

The healers had fallen behind during the battle as they'd attempted to tend to all the wounded, and although two knights had gone back to fetch them, for now there was little that she could do, but try to work with those around her to halt the bleeding and stall for time. Never before had she felt the desire to turn in her lance for a healing staff, but, for a moment, she wished desperately that she could. She shook her head and banished such thoughts. They could not change the situation and, therefore, were little more then a dangerous distraction.

"Princess Caeda, I'm sorry, but I must ask you to move. We'll need some room to work," someone informed her from behind, startling her.

"Yes, please! Malliesia wants to help Lord Marth!"

Caeda's mind felt clouded, but she found that she was able still able to put a names to the voices and, although she did not wish to move from her fiance's side, she complied quickly, knowing that she could trust Malliesia and Linde, who had recently promoted, to care for him.

The whole situation felt so unreal to her. Perhaps this was all a frightful dream... or perhaps it was simply that she wanted so badly for this to not be true that she wanted to believe that it was nothing more then a dream.

The moments seemed endless to her as she observed the healing and awaited news anxiously, but, in reality, very little time had passed.

Caeda found herself unable to breathe as she watched Linde finally rise and start walking towards her, knowing that the sage was coming to report the situation to her. Renewed terror rushed through her at the realization that Marth still did not appear to be moving. Caeda wiped the tears from her eyes and choked back a sob as Linde came to stand in front of her, knowing in her heart that she had to stay strong. Falling apart served no one.

And so she held back the tears as she asked the approaching sage, "Marth? Will he be...?"

"He'll be fine," Linde reassured her, a tired smile appearing on her face as she spoke. "His wounds were serious and it will take us a few more minutes to finish healing him, but he is conscious now and he will recover."

Relief swept through her, chasing away the terrible images that had haunted her. "Thank you," she whispered, "I don't know what..."

"There is no need to say anything more, Princess Caeda," Linde interrupted, understanding and relief evident in her eyes. "Besides, you're wasting time. I am here because Prince Marth is asking to see you. He is worried about you."

"I see. Then I will go to him," the princess smiled. As she rushed to her fiance's side, she brushed away tears of a very different sort from those that had marred her face earlier, her terror replaced with hope and joy.


End file.
